1. Why Indians are over-weight, stressed and unhealthy ?
Last year, medical journal Lancet reported a study of 20,000 Indian patients and found that
60 per cent of the world's heart disease patients are in India, which has 15 per cent of the
world's population.
This number is surprising because reports of obesity and heart disease focus on big fat
Americans and their fast food. What could account for Indians being so susceptible -- more
even than burger-and-fries-eating Americans? We are neither fat nor fast…….
Four causes : diet, culture, stress and lack of fitness seem to be the culprits.
DIET : There is no doctrinal prescription for vegetarianism in Hindu diet, and some texts
explicitly sanction the eating of meat. But vegetarianism has become dogma.
Indian food is assumed to be strongly vegetarian, but it is actually lacking in vegetables. Our
diet is centred around wheat, in the north of India, and rice, in the south of India. The second
most important element is daal ( Lentils ) in its various forms. By weight, vegetables are not
consumed much. You could have an entire South Indian vegetarian meal without
encountering a single vegetable. The most important vegetable is the starchy aloo (potatoes).
Green vegetables are not cooked in the flash-fried style in the healthy manner of the Chinese,
but are boiled or cut & fried till much of the nutrient value is killed. Spices are added which
sometimes kill the natural flavour of the vegetable. Excess spices are counter-productive.
Gujaratis and Punjabis are the two Indian communities most susceptible to heart disease.
Their vulnerability is increased because of recent life style changes. Both have a large peasant
population -- Patels and Jats -- who in the last few decades have moved from an agrarian life
in the village to an urban / city based one. They have retained their diet and if anything made
it richer, but their bodies do not work as much. This transition from a physically active life
with labour to perform to a sedentary one or a dependent one has made them very
vulnerable.
Gujaratis lead the toll for diabetes as well, and the dietary aspect of this is really the fallout of
the state's economic success. Unlike most Indian states, Gujarat has a rich and developed
urban culture because of the mercantile nature of its society. Gujaratis have been living in
cities for centuries. They have a large group of kith and kin ( relatives ) who meet often and
enjoy their food and festivals. Celebration is synonymous with special food !
This prosperity has given the Gujarati surplus money and, importantly, surplus time. These in
turn have led to snacky foods, some deep fried, some steamed and some, uniquely in India,
baked with yeast. Most Indians are familiar with the Gujarati family on holiday, pulling out
vast quantities of snacks the moment the train pushes off. This shows the tendency towards a
celebratory life.
Gujarati peasant food -- bajra (millet) roti, a lightly cooked green, garlic and red chilli
chutney, and buttermilk -- is actually supremely healthy. But the peasant Patel has
succumbed to the food of the 'higher' trader and now prefers the oily and the sweet.
Marathi peasant food is similar, but not as wholesome with a thick and pasty porridge called
zunka replacing the green. Bombay's junk food was invented in the 19th century to service
Gujarati traders leaving Fort's business district late in the evening after a long day. Pao bhaji,
mashed leftover vegetables in a tomato gravy served with shallow-fried buns of bread, was
one such invention of those days. More out of convenience than from a nutrition angle.
Though it is said to contain „bhaji‟ the mashed porridge has more oil and potatoes than any
other vegetable. Recent addition is the cheap “simla mirch‟ ( green capsicum ), which gives
green colour to it!
The most popular snack in Bombay is vada pao, which has a batter-fried potato ball stuck in a
bun. The bun -- yeast bread -- is not native to India and gets its name pao from the
Portuguese who brought it in the 16th century.

2. The travelling chef and TV star Anthony Bourdain called vada pao ( Indian Burger ) the best
Indian thing he had ever eaten, but it is heart attack food. Though Jains are a very small part
(one per cent or thereabouts) of the Gujarati population, such is their cultural dominance
through trade that many South Bombay restaurants have a 'Jain' option on the menu. This is
food without garlic and ginger. Since they are both tubers (as also are potatoes), Jains do
not eat them, because in uprooting them from the soil, living organisms may be killed (no
religious restriction on butter and cheese, however!). The vast majority of Ahmedabad's
restaurants are vegetarian. Gujaratis have no tolerance for meat-eaters and keep away from
eateries which serve both from the same kitchen.
Foreigners like Indian food, and it is very popular in England, but they find our sweets too
sweet. This taste for excess sugar extends also to beverage: Maulana Azad called Indian tea
'liquid halwa'. Only in the last decade have cafes begun offering sugar on the side, as diabetes
has spread.
CULTURE : India's culture encourages swift consumption. There is no conversation at meal-
time, as there is in Europe. As there are no courses during eating, it is fast and relentless.
You can be seated, served and be finished eating at a Gujarati or Marathi or South Indian
thali restaurant in 15 minutes ! All the food is served at the same time. You can make any
combination of food served and make your taste buds tingle with your recipe in morsel every
time. It is eating in the manner of animals: for pure nourishment. Individual foods are hardly
tasted and enjoyed for their own flavour. The recent trend of “buffet food” encourages the
mixing of food in the handheld plate itself! It is more complex when eaten standing.
We eat with fingers, as opposed to knives and forks, or chopsticks, resulting in the scooping
up of bigger mouthfuls. Because the nature of the food does not allow for leisurely eating,
Indians do not have a wine / drink with their meals. We drink our whiskey or wine before and
then stagger to the table ! This is the standard practice everywhere! Somehow it has become
a norm that Indian food cannot be consumed slowly along with a drink. Maybe because we
eat with our hands, we avoid picking up the drink !
As is the case in societies of scarcity, any rich food is considered good -- and ghee is a sacred
word in all Indian languages. There is no escape from fat. In India, advertising for healthy
eating also shows food deep fried, but in lower-cholesterol oil. Sugary sweet and deep fried
„Jalebi‟ is the typical Indian favourite ! At some places it is eaten with rich cream as well !
The insistence by family - 'thoda aur le lo' -- at the table is part of our culture of hospitality,
as is the offering of tea and perhaps also a snack to visiting guests and strangers. Middle
class Indians, even families that earn Rs.15,000 a month, will have servants to do the menial
jobs at home. Maids with knowledge of operating the washing machine are at a premium!
Work that the a normal European and American does, the Indian does not want to do ; like
cooking, cleaning, washing up. Painting the house, changing tyres, tinkering in the garage,
moving things around, getting a cup of tea at the office, these are things the Indian gets
someone else to do for him. There is no sense of private space and the constant presence of
the servants / relatives is accepted at home.
Gandhi's value to India was not on his political side, but through his religious and cultural
reforms. What Gandhi attempted to drill into Indians through living a life of action was a
change in our culture of lethargy and dependence. Gandhi stressed physical self-sufficiency,
and even cleaned his toilet out himself. He promoted a self-dependent lifestyle.
But he wasn't successful in making us change, and most Indians will not associate Gandhi
with physical self-sufficiency though that was his principal message. Indian men do no work
around the house. Middle class women do little, especially after childbirth. Many cook, but the
cutting and cleaning is done by the servant. Girls who are slim in their teens, they turn big-
waisted in their early 20s, within a few years of marriage. Even among boys, sports is a
distant third on the priority list of skills. The first is academic. Second is your choice….

3. STRESS : Since we are dependent on other people, we have less control over events. The
Indian is under stress and is always anxious. This is bad for his health. He must be on
constant guard against the world, which takes advantage of him: the servant's perfidy,
encroachment by his neighbours, cars cutting in front of him in traffic, the vendor's rate that
must be haggled down. Almost nothing is orderly and everything must be worried about.
You have to manage your affairs really well for a trouble free normal life !
In the Indian office, the everything including the payroll is a secret, and nobody is told what
the other does or makes. Now comes the paradox…..Knowledge about what another makes
causes great stress, which leads to comparison and criticism ! At the same time the lack of
information is also stressful, leading to spy games and office gossip. There is more anxiety
because of lack of knowledge and hence unhealthy relationships!
As individualism is not respected in India, merit comes from seniority and the talented but
young executive is stressed by the knowledge that he's not holding the position he deserves.
Indians are peerless detectors of social standing and the vertical hierarchy of the Indian office
is sacrosanct. Office itself is a synonym for „tension‟ ! People are known to live a double life. A
perfect Dr.Jackyl in the office with all mannerisms and style and a converted Mr.Hyde once
out of it ! Stories abound and gossip mills work overtime on these feeds! A rare boss in office
who is straight is also viewed with suspicion! This may cause of anxiety to the peer group.
Dennis Kux pointed out that Indian diplomats do not engage officially with an American of
lower rank, even if the American was authorised to decide on the matter. In the last decade,
when Indians began owning companies abroad, the Wall Street Journal reported on cultural
problems that arose. Their foreign employees learnt quickly that saying 'no' would cause their
Indian bosses great offence, so they learnt to communicate with them as with children.
Answering their Indian bosses in “present continuous tense” always………..!
Indians shine in the west where their culture doesn't hold them back.
In India honour is high and the individual is alert to slights from those below him, which
discomfort him greatly.
PHYSICAL FITNESS : There is distinct low interest in sports other than watching cricket on
TV ! Most people going out on a walk are actually on a stroll! The new generation –X has
embraced the gym though! Maybe more for the six pack abs than for fitness per se! There is
no culture of physical fitness as a norm! Fat is considered prosperous and cute and Indians
don't have an active middle age, other than the commute. There is actually no time for
physical fitness in the middle age years ! During the active office life say between 25 years of
age to the retiring age of 58 years, there is no or little time for family or self ! The first alarm
bell rings when the mandatory medical check-up at office comes in with some red marks !
That is when the „bell tolls‟ and one sits up! There is still a choice between physical work-out
and popping pills ! Yet, the final decision is common knowledge.
Past 58, they just crumble. Within society they must step back and play their scripted role.
Widows at that age, even younger, have no hope of remarriage because sacrifice is expected
of them. Middle age widowers must also reconcile to singlehood, and the family would be
aghast if they showed interest in the opposite sex at that age, even though this would be
normal in another culture elsewhere.
Elders are cared for within family, but are defanged when they pass on their wealth to their
son in the joint family. They lose their self-esteem as they understand their irrelevance, and
wither. If they linger they are depressed at their plight.
Awareness of the causes and accepting responsibility for the change would go a long way !
As Stephen Covey puts it…only ‟Change in the response‟ is the answer to a different result.
Better the response ….better the result !
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